


restless

by theninthcircle



Category: From Beyond (1986)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Body Horror, F/M, Nightmares, Short One Shot, Upsetting fic, but katherine has nightmares about them, katherine and crawford are dating, pretorius isn't explicitly mentioned but he's definitely there, the events of from beyond don't happen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-19
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-15 06:16:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 499
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29554794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theninthcircle/pseuds/theninthcircle
Summary: Her eyes flutter open. She is assaulted by blinding, bright colors and a ceaseless wind. There’s that buzzing machine in the center of the room, and the lights going haywire. She grits her teeth and shivers. It’s cold, the kind you feel from the inside out, seeping into muscle and skin from the core of your bones.It’s the same restless dream she always has.
Relationships: Katherine McMichaels/Crawford Tillinghast
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	restless

Her eyes flutter open. She is assaulted by blinding, bright colors and a ceaseless wind. There’s that buzzing machine in the center of the room, and all the lights going haywire. She grits her teeth and shivers. It’s cold, the kind you feel from the inside out, seeping into muscle and skin from the core of your bones.

It’s the same restless dream she always has.

The chewed-up, bleeding body of some man she’s never met.

The hum of insects.

A grating cackle that seems to beckon her.

A frantic heat rising from her stomach, threatening to split her very mind in two.

And him. She knows him.

Crawford curls up to the wall, on his knees, back turned until she steps towards him and he faces her with the eyes of a frightened child. There’s blood all over his face.

His lips part, but no words come out, only chunks of viscera, all but the gummy parts that cling to his teeth. He extends his hands, to which a mass of guts falls to the floor with a wet ‘thud’ and splatters red on his dirty, white shirt.

He stands, stumbling towards her on unstable legs.

“Katherine.”

His voice is a desperate thing, wavering and unnatural.

“You’re-“

He finds a panicked urgency within himself and rushes towards her, grabbing her by the shoulders hard enough to leave purple marks before pinning her against the wall, panting, staring for an agonizing moment that feels like a century.

“Help me.”

His face melts. His hair falls out in chunks. Tears pour out of his drooping eye sockets. She tries to push him away, but his nails only dig deeper into her flesh.

“I love you.”

A mass of slimy appendages bursts from his skull and plunges up through her eyelids, coming to a halt only to coil around her brainstem, squeezing tight.

She feels teeth ripping her face apart. She feels impossible colors slide up her throat. She feels a religious, agonizing ecstasy. She hears him scream, an awful sound that tears apart her synapses. It shatters her heart like a piercing frequency shattering a wine glass.

She wakes up in a cold sweat all too familiar, her eyes darting to the peaceful expression of her sleeping boyfriend. She shivers, but she can’t find it in herself to hold him close and leech his warmth. He’s not scary. He’s nothing but gentle and sweet. His hands are feather-light on her skin and he slow-dances with her in the kitchen. He makes her breakfast every morning. He holds her when she cries. He’d drag his rotting body to the ends of the earth for her, then do it all over again.

And here she is, terrified of him.

As she quietly gets up and makes her way to a familiar spot on the couch, she can’t help but feel as if something terrible is about to happen.

A deep voice rings in her ears.

 _“Someday, somehow,”_ It says. _“I’ll find you.”_

**Author's Note:**

> This was a little concept I simply had to (extremely quickly) flesh out on paper. Was meant to be a comic, but I knew I'd never finish it if I started, so this happened. To those who lurk in this tag, I hope you enjoyed the short read. I think about this movie a lot.


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